As North Carolina struggles to rebuild after Hurricane Helene, an unexpected complication has surfaced that stands to make matters more dangerous. It has to do with all the kindling inadvertently created in the aftermath. Lisa Fletcher reports.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

First there were the floods that swamped towns, and the high winds that knocked forests to the ground.

Now the state is facing catastrophic fires, more devastating because of the storm’s aftermath.

Fire season has come early to the Carolina mountains. Low humidity and millions of downed trees across some 800 thousand acres left in the wake of Hurricane Helene have created a tinderbox of well over a thousand square miles.

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It’s an enormous task, a challenge witnessed by new Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins: Driving up into the hills to see it, the devastation in terms of the trees that were knocked over and the fuel that is added, it creates a scenario where the fires can spread more quickly, where they have more timber to burn through. So it is a significant challenge that our teams are working through.

Seven million tons of downed and drying trees have put state-forestry fire crews on edge.

Chris Sharpton is the state’s regional fire manager.

Lisa Fletcher: It looks like we’re coming into an area that’s pretty charred up here.

Chris Sharpton: So this is the Crooked Creek Fire. It started last Wednesday.

Lisa Fletcher: It’s a good-sized fire.

Chris Sharpton: Absolutely. Especially for this time of year.

That fire came under control just days before our arrival. Others ignited, burning a thousand acres.

Chris Sharpton: And this is just the tip of the iceberg, to be honest with you.

In the years ahead, it is likely that western North Carolina—and multiple states in the Southeast—will experience more intense fire seasons because of the scale of the downed timber.

Chris Sharpton: We’ve seen that the most severe damage is on the upper slopes of ridge tops and mountain tops, where typically those forests are dominated by oaks and hickories. Those species deteriorate much more slowly than southern yellow pine, yellow poplar, and red maple.

Lisa Fletcher: This stuff isn’t going to rot out very fast. So it’s going to remain as a good fuel source for fires for longer?

Chris Sharpton: Right. We’re in an area where our fuel conditions have changed, and they’re going to be much different for the next 10, 15, maybe even 20 years.

Lisa Fletcher: To give you a sense of how big the problem is, this is just one of a hundred piles of logs that have been salvaged from just this spot of land, and this is just scratching the surface. In fact, in a neighboring county, more than a third of the forest is on the ground after Hurricane Helene.

And it’s not just a physical threat, but a financial one, too.

Helene caused some $4.1 billion in direct damage to North Carolina’s agriculture sector, which includes public and private forests.

Much of which are so dense and difficult to access that even removal by helicopter—like what was done in 1990 after Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina—is nearly impossible.

Lisa Fletcher: When Hugo hit South Carolina, there was a lot of work to take debris out of the way, even airlifting some debris. Would that be helpful in North Carolina to see some of that scale of debris removal?

Chris Sharpton: Particularly in areas surrounding homes. It’s not really feasible to go through the woods and pick up some of this debris.

And with the amount of debris far beyond the financial and physical ability of the state to address, the people living in the mountain communities are living in fear of a second disaster.

Jennifer Boice: Well, for me, it’s almost a daily grieving.

Jennifer Boice has called this valley, twenty minutes from downtown Asheville, home for 46 years and says she lost between 200 and 300 trees on her property alone.

This is the view from her porch before the storm, and after.

Lisa Fletcher: It’s kind of a double whammy for you, too, because you had the devastation from Helene and then you have the debris from Helene, which creates a whole new problem with wildfires.

Jennifer Boice: That’s true.

So where does an impending disaster stack up against one that has yet to be fully repaired? Or, to quote one famous North Carolina songwriter, who will cover the costs for those who have seen both fire and rain?

Lisa Fletcher: Does North Carolina get the kinds of resources it needs to have such a high rank in terms of its vulnerability to wildfires, or do you guys need more?

Chris Sharpton: So we actually do have quite a few asks of both the federal government and state government for funding for more positions, more equipment, basically things to support the increased fuel loading so we have the capability to mitigate some of these hazardous fuels.

Sharyl (on camera) Has North Carolina received any money from the federal government or FEMA for storm recovery yet?

Lisa: FEMA told us they have approved some $400 million for North Carolina residents affected by Helene, and that the “majority of funds has been distributed.” Meanwhile, Governor Josh Stein is requesting an additional $19 billion from the Trump administration for recovery efforts, including funds to prevent future wildfires.

Watch video here.